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Mobile phones to be allowed on planes

By Bartolus

The Commission has adopted a decision - not yet published in the Official Journal but available here - allowing the use of mobile phones on board aircraft during flights.

So, the relative peace and quiet of air travel comes to an end. Europeans tend to eat, drink, walk and drive with mobile phones grafted on their ears. Now the can fly with their beloved phones too.

The new decision sets out harmonized technical parameters of onboard equipment for in-flight mobile phone use throughout the EU that will allow member States to recognize each other's licenses for mobile communications on board aircraft without risk to mobile networks on the ground.

Here's a press release and a series of frequently asked questions on the matter.

The Commission also issued a Recommendation for a harmonized approach on licensing which will promote mutual recognition between national authorizations for mobile communications services on aircraft.

Here's an article by the BBC explaining how the system will work.

The case for noise canceling earphones has never been stronger!

Full post as published by EU Law Blog on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).